Dr. Richard R. Burgess (burgess@oncology.wisc.edu)

• James D. Watson Professor of Oncology
• Post-doctoral fellow, Laboratory of Alfred Tissieres, University of Geneva, Switzerland, 1969-71
• Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Laboratory of James D. Watson, Harvard University, 1969
• B.S. in Chemistry, California Institute of Technology, 1964

Dr. Nancy E. Thompson (nethomps@wisc.edu)

• Senior Scientist (current position)
• Post-doctoral fellow, Laboratory of Merlin Bergdoll, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1979-83
• Ph.D. in Bacteriology, Laboratory of Peter Pattee, Iowa State University, 1979
• B.S. in Biology with an emphasis on Zoology, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, 1973

Current projects:

• Studying the function of the N-terminal domain of TFIIB.
• Developing immunological reagents for cancer detection and treatment.
• Using polyol-responsive monoclonal antibodies for protein purification.

Recent publications:

• Thompson NE, Foley KM, Burgess RR. (2004) Antigen-binding properties of mAbs reactive with human TATA-binding protein (TBP) and use in immunoaffinity chromatography. Protein Expr. Purif. 36: 186-197.
• Thompson NE, Arthur TM, Burgess RR. (2003) Development of an epitope tag for the gentle purification of proteins by immunoaffinity chromatography: application to epitope-tagged green fluorescent protein. Anal. Biochem. 323: 171-179.
• Bergendahl V, Thompson NE, Foley KM, Olson BM, Burgess RR. (2003) A cross-reactive polyol-responsive monoclonal antibody useful for isolation of core RNA polymerase from many bacterial species. Protein Expr. Purif. 31: 155-160.
• Burgess RR, Thompson NE. (2002) Advances in gentle immunoaffinity chromatography. Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 13: 304-308. Review.
• Cramer P, Bushnell DA, Fu J, Gnatt AL, Maier-Davis B, Thompson NE, Burgess RR, Edwards AM, David PR, Kornberg RD. (2000) Architecture of RNA polymerase II and implications for the transcription mechanism. Science 288: 640-649.

Katherine (Kit) M. Foley (nolan@oncology.wisc.edu)

• Senior Research Specialist (current position)
• B.S. in Zoology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1982

Current project:

• Isolating pure, native Huntingtin protein by gentle immunoaffinity chromatography.

Recent publications:

• Bergendahl V, Thompson NE, Foley KM, Olson BM, Burgess RR. (2003) A cross-reactive polyol-responsive monoclonal antibody useful for isolation of core RNA polymerase from many bacterial species. Protein Expr. Purif. 31: 155-160.
• Svetlov V, Nolan K, Burgess RR. (1998) Rpb3: stoichiometry and sequence determinants of the assembly into yeast RNA polymerase II in vivo. J. Biol. Chem. 273: 10827-10830.
• Thompson NE, Strasheim LA, Nolan KM, Burgess RR. (1995) Accessibility of epitopes on human transcription factor IIB (TFIIB) in the native protein and in a complex with DNA. J. Biol. Chem. 270: 4735-4740.

Kai Zhao (zhao@oncology.wisc.edu)

• Post-doctoral fellow, University of Wisconsin - Madison
• Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology, Laboratory of Richard Burgess, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2007
• M.S. in Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Medicine - Institution of Microbiology, 1999
• M.D., Peking University - Medical School, 1996

Current projects:

• Determining the sigma-32 (heat-shock sigma factor) regulon.
• Determining the sigma-F regulon and competition between sigma-F and other sigma factors.

Recent publications:

• Zhao K, Liu M, Burgess RR. (2005) The global transcriptional response of E. coli to induced sigma32 protein in vivo. J. Biol. Chem. 280: 17758-17768.

Rob Chumanov (rschumanov@wisc.edu)

• Cellular and Molecular Biology graduate student at University of Wisconsin - Madison (current position)
• B.A. in Chemistry and Economics, Cornell University, 2003

Current project:

• Isolation of receptor for peptides that are neuroprotective for Alzheimer's disease.

Sarah Duellman (sjduellman@wisc.edu)

• Genetics graduate student at University of Wisconsin - Madison (current position)
• B.S. in Biology, Illinois State University, 2002

Current projects:

• Manipulating transcription in cancerous cells using protein transduction domains.
• Interrupting interaction between oncogenic transcription factors and the transcription machinery.

Recent publications:

• Duellman SJ, Burgess RR. (2006) Overproduction in E. coli and purification of Epstein-Barr virus EBNA-1. Protein Expr. Purif. 47: 434-440.
• Duellman SJ, Thompson NE, Burgess RR. (2004) An epitope tag derived from human transcription factor IIB (TFIIB) that reacts with a polyol-responsive mAb. Protein Expr. Purif. 35: 147-155.

Amanda Esch (esch@oncology.wisc.edu)

• Cancer Biology graduate student at University of Wisconsin - Madison (current position)
• B.S. in Biology, University of South Carolina, 1999

Current projects:

• Determining regulon and biomarkers for activated ERRa.
• Breast cancer characterization.

Bryan Glaser (btglaser@wisc.edu)

• Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology graduate student at University of Wisconsin - Madison (current position)
• B.S. in Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2002

Current projects:

• Using LRET to study the biochemistry of the sigma factor interaction with RNA polymerase; High-throughput screening for antimicrobial drugs.
• Improving protein refolding methods for structural genomics.

Recent publications:

• Bergendahl V, Glaser BT, Burgess RR. (2003) A fast Western blot procedure improved for quantitative analysis by direct fluorescence labeling of primary antibodies. J. Immunol. Methods 277: 117-125.

Jennifer Lamberski (jalamberski@wisc.edu)

• Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology graduate student at University of Wisconsin - Madison (current position)
• B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University, 2002

Current projects:

• Producing and characterizing a single chain variant of the polyol-responsive monoclonal antibody, NT73.
• Monoclonal antibodies to estrogen-related receptor alpha (ERRa).
• HTS for inhibitors of ERRa-coactivator interaction as breast cancer treatments.

Recent publications:

• Lamberski JA, Thompson NE, Burgess RR. (2006) Expression and purification of a single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibody derived from a polyol-responsive monoclonal antibody. Protein Expr. Purif. 47: 82-92.